In order to remove a tire from the wheel of a vehicle, it is necessary to dislodge or "break" the bead of the tire away from the bead seat of a wheel rim. A variety of devices for removing vehicular tires from wheel rims have been developed previously.
For example, Umemoto et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,943 discloses a tire bead dislodging device which has slidable rim clamps and a screw rod to make adjustments to the diameter. A screw actuated breaker foot is moved downward by a handle and the breaker foot pushes down on the tire bead to remove the tire from the rim. Kohn, U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,158 discloses a tire bead tool which has a pair of wheel rim engaging clamps with one of the clamps slidable along a bar, and a breaker foot which is lever actuated.
Other examples of tire bead breaker devices include Snider, U.S. Pat. No. 1,475,519, which discloses a bead breaker with a single rim clamp and a screw actuated breaker foot. Gering, U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,813 discloses a tire bead breaking tool which includes a holddown bar that is clamped to the wheel rim. The holddown bar includes a tire press having a tongue which is inserted between the tire bead and the wheel rim, and the tire press is screw actuated by use of a rotatable crank arm.
While the above devices provide some assistance in removing a tire from a wheel rim, there is a need for a portable tire bead breaking device which is easy, safe and simple to use, and which can be used on a variety of different sized tires.